To Save the Whales, Crab Fishers Are Testing Ropeless Gear

From devices designed to automatically cut the line, to crab pots that use no ropes at all, scientists are working to ease the threat posed by trap fishing.

Jun 24, 2019 | 1,000 words, about 5 minutes

Scientists Want to Make Fuel and Plastic Out of Bacteria

Tiny but mighty, octillions of cyanobacteria in the ocean create diesel-like hydrocarbons in huge amounts. A team of researchers wants to know why.

Jun 21, 2019 | 850 words, about 4 minutes

Supersize My Seabream

Researchers are using CRISPR gene editing technology to give Japan’s coveted red seabream a bodybuilding boost. But will people accept it?

Jun 18, 2019 | 1,900 words, about 9 minutes

California Seamounts Are Sylvia Earle’s Newest “Hope Spots”

Hope Spots hold no specific policy weight—the designation is meant to draw attention to culturally, ecologically, or economically important places.

Jun 12, 2019 | 750 words, about 3 minutes

How a Far-Flung Group of Scientists Claimed the Ocean Discovery XPRIZE

Advances made to win XPRIZE will help with the quest to map the seafloor—an effort with scientific and industrial appeal.

Jun 5, 2019 | 1,000 words, about 5 minutes

The Newest Lab Rat Has Eight Arms

Move over mice and fruit flies, the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, is busy developing the next great model organism for science.

Jun 3, 2019 | 2,200 words, about 11 minutes

Singapore Wants to Build Massive Floating Suburbs

Vast complexes of floating rafts would support apartment buildings on the sea.

May 2, 2019 | 750 words, about 3 minutes

How Do You Surveil One of the Largest Marine Protected Areas on Earth?

Scientists are developing a prediction system that uses historical records of fishing activity and satellite observations of oceanographic conditions to direct surveillance patrols in the Republic of Palau.

Apr 10, 2019 | 550 words, about 2 minutes